One of the more bizarre VAR incidents in this game. Mahrez is flagged offside and Andre Marriner appears to blow, then Mahrez appears to control the through ball on his arm and a defender might have pulled it back. The offside decision was poor and they didn't even need to draw lines he was that far onside, but they then checked the possible handball and a possible penalty. Both were deemed to be non-offences so they restarted with the offside, even though he wasn't offside and VAR proved that.
Man City vs Everton
- Thread starter RustyRef
- Start date
Jtpetherick1
Well-Known Member
In Mr Atkinson's defence, he was on the Newcastle game...
According to this article, VAR decided that Mahrez handled the ball (handball)
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...all-news/var-man-city-mahrez-penalty-17501182
https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...all-news/var-man-city-mahrez-penalty-17501182
Don't think so as the free kick was from the offside position and Marriner raised his arm for indirect which he wouldn't have done for a handball.
The article seems to be saying the source was PGMOL. You seem to think they know what they're doing - like giving offside when it wasn't.
A bit of a postscript in the light of FIFA's warning about how EPL is doing VAR...
Mahrez "offside" at 2.50 of video; possible handball at 3.45 (surely not conclusive of any hand contact let alone deliberate; possible tug for penalty straight after. But NB - the assistant is in no position to judge any of that because he's stopped, having wrongly signalled offside, and gone with EPL rather than FIFA guidance. Plus penalty shout at 8.45 (no other angles), and "yellow card" offence at 9.15. No-one knows if VAR bothered to look at either.
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/matc...ty-everton-premier-league-extended-highlights
Mahrez "offside" at 2.50 of video; possible handball at 3.45 (surely not conclusive of any hand contact let alone deliberate; possible tug for penalty straight after. But NB - the assistant is in no position to judge any of that because he's stopped, having wrongly signalled offside, and gone with EPL rather than FIFA guidance. Plus penalty shout at 8.45 (no other angles), and "yellow card" offence at 9.15. No-one knows if VAR bothered to look at either.
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/matc...ty-everton-premier-league-extended-highlights
The Mahrez offside at 2:50 was pretty clear through and they didn't even need the lines.
The possible handling at 3:45 is a difficult one as if it led to a goal it would be penalised even if totally accidental. But in this case it would have led to a penalty, so I'm not sure that part of law could be used.
They would have looked at the possible penalty on Foden and challenge by Calvert Lewin, but there's no way VAR could say that the referee was clearly on obviously wrong in the decisions he made.
Have we seen the latest set of apologies yet???
I'm not an expert on the VAR protocol, but I wonder if they have any option. Offside is only checked if it leads to a goal, including if there would be a penalty. They've said no penalty offence and therefore can't overrule the offside and have to stick with the original decision even though they knew it was incorrect.
If that is the case I can't help thinking they did the checks in the wrong order. Better to check the possible penalty offence first, then the possible handball, and then only the offside if they said it was a penalty and there was no handling.
If you've blown the whistle for an offence and have got it wrong (as advised by VAR or an insistent live AR) surely it should be a dropped ball - for the team wrongly penalised as they were in possession.
What if the IDFK had been launched upfield and a goal scored against the team who had been wrongly penalised?
What if the IDFK had been launched upfield and a goal scored against the team who had been wrongly penalised?
You are missing the point, they didn't have valid grounds to check the offside. Once VAR decides there is no penalty the offside is irrelevant, otherwise they would be checking every offside decision for correctness. That's why the on-field decision remained even though it was incorrect.
Had it been a penalty they would then have checked the offside call and overruled it. I think the main issue here is they caused confusion by showing the offside decision on the VAR review.
Yes, but that is where it is very unclear. The law about if it hits an attacker's arm whether intentional or not only relates to where a goal is scored, not a penalty awarded, so from what I can see they could only treat it as a "normal" handball. i.e. did Mahrez intentionally handle it, and for me he didn't even come close to.
Having looked again at the protocol https://www.premierleague.com/news/1488423 the bits I find disturbing is that Hawkeye draws the lines then the VAR starts tinkering - "In this state, the VAR can change the position of each line" - and there must be a suspicion that a different VAR could change it differently. Perhaps the biggest problem is the bland statement that "The Premier League is unique in European competition in that the whole process is displayed to broadcasters so fans can see in real time how a decision is reached". Not the fans who've paid £50 to watch the game and haven't a bloody clue what's going on.
onthebrink
Well-Known Member
In many instances, an offside could be cleared up quicker than a subjective penalty appeal. If the original offside decision from the assistant is clearly correct and the striker is a yard or two offside then it's simpler to confirm that first and get on with the game rather than spending a minute or two deciding that there was a foul in the penalty area and then finding out that the offside decision had been correct anyway so the penalty aspect becomes irrelevant.
As for the 'handball' from Mahrez, the law also refers to creating a goal scoring opportunity after the ball has hit the hand which I would say would apply here as it put him throuhg on goal.